


Love In Actions

by kate882



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew and Neil care about each other so much, M/M, They're just not great at saying it, and Renee/Allison, mentions of other cannon relationships, post cannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 18:46:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17647955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: Neil and Andrew never do say they love each other, but they show it.





	Love In Actions

Neil was pretty sure the first person to say they loved him had actually been Matt. His family had, obviously, not been the overly emotional kind. He was pretty sure his mother loved him. In her own weird way. Why else would she go through all of that to get him away? And he hated her at times, but there was something like love in there too.

The Foxes were so different, guarded too but in a different way. When Matt had said it to him, he’d been drunk after one of their games. He’d thrown an arm around Neil’s shoulders and proclaimed “Dude, I love you, I’m so glad you’re our friend,” while giving him a big grin. The other Foxes had paused and, not even subtly, looked over at them to gauge Neil’s reaction. It wasn’t really a secret that Neil wasn’t good with positive emotion. He still felt bad about that time he’d asked Nicky if they were actually friends, the look on Nicky’s face filling him with an unfamiliar sense of guilt.

“That’s ...um… thanks buddy,” Neil managed a small smile which Matt returned with an enthusiastic grin.

“Wait, are we telling Neil how much we love him? I want in!” Nicky said quickly.

“Not like you love him,” Matt waved off. “He’d have to swing both ways for that,” he said and Dan laughed and added, “More like swing for someone other than just Andrew.” Neil noticed the look Andrew shot between the two even if they didn’t seem to.

“My love of Neil is completely pure of heart, excuse you!” Nicky said, and everyone shot him disbelieving looks. “Oh, are you jealous, Matty? I still love you too, but Neil has a special place in my heart,” he said, putting a hand over said heart.

“Listen, I think we can all agree that we love Neil,” Dan grinned and winked at Neil when he turned wide eyes on her, “but we just might be questioning your motivation, Nicky.”

“I’m telling Erik you’re declaring love for another man,” Aaron agreed.

“He knows Neil is taken,” Nicky said with a shrug. “Speaking of, Andrew wanna get in on this Neil love fest?”

Andrew just returned his look blankly until Nicky finally looked away and, undeterred, grinned at Neil. “I’ll just have to tell you enough for me and Andrew.”

Neil looked over at Andrew who took in his face, seemed to recognize that Neil was starting to feel a little overwhelmed and got to his feet. “We’re leaving,” he said simply and Neil scrambled up to follow him, shooting his friends an apologetic look as they complained and Nicky wolf whistled.

And he and Andrew smoked on the roof in silence.

* * *

So, declarations of feelings weren’t really their thing. And Neil was actually okay with that.

It took a while, but he did know that Andrew loved him without hearing the words. It was in his actions, which always spoke more to Neil than words ever could.

Andrew trusting Neil to touch him even after all he’d been through, eventually trusting Neil with sex.

They did just about everything other than penetrative sex by the end of their second year playing for the Foxes together. It was the middle of Neil’s junior year that Andrew brought it up. Neil had been thinking about it for a while now, but he didn’t want to push Andrew before he was ready.

Not that he thought Andrew would do anything he didn’t want to do just because Neil asked him to, but he couldn’t risk even the chance of that.

They were already in bed, Neil was flushed and hard while Andrew went down on him. Neil had his hands in Andrew’s hair and was moaning out Andrew’s name when Andrew leaned back to look down at him.

“Do we need to stop?” Neil asked, slowly opening his eyes to meet Andrew’s, ignoring his aching erection for the moment.

It happened sometimes. They’d be going hot and heavy and then Andrew would pull back and tell him to stop.

This wasn’t one of those times though. Andrew shook head head and leaned over to reach into his bedside drawer, while Neil watched curiously. He expected the lube that Andrew came back with, but not the condom. He’d noticed when they appeared in the drawer, figured it meant Andrew was considering fucking him, but waited for Andrew to bring it up. It would seem he was bringing it up now.

“Are you sur-” He started, but Andrew cut him off. “Yes or no?”

Neil wanted to say yes instantly, but took the time to search Andrew’s face, to make sure he was ready for this too.

“You don’t have to decide now. I can just finish blowing you,” Andrew told him when Neil took a moment too long to answer, already reaching to put the condom away.

“Yes,” Neil said before he could and Andrew paused, looking at him questioningly. “Yes, I want to have sex with you,” he clarified when he realized Andrew didn’t know if he was saying yes to that or finishing the blowjob.

Andrew met his eyes for a few seconds before nodding and dropping the condom and the lube package on the bed next to Neil.

He sank back down spreading Neil’s legs further with hands at his thighs, and Neil thought that he was going to start sucking his dick again, but instead he lifted Neil’s hips slightly with his grip on Neil’s thighs and looked up at him for permission. Neil realized what Andrew was aiming for and nodded.

He jolted a bit at the first swipe of Andrew’s tongue across his asshole, letting out a wordless gasp. Andrew gripped him tighter, holding him in place before he started working his tongue over Neil’s hole again, licking until Neil was nearly begging him for more and then he finally started to work his tongue into the muscle. Andrew always did like when Neil made noise after all. Neil suspected it was because it gave him verbal confirmation that Neil did want this and that he was enjoying what they were doing.

Andrew fucked him open with his tongue first, eliciting a whine from Neil when he pulled his face away from Neil’s ass, but he grabbed the lube packet, tearing it open with his teeth, and soon enough his tongue was replaced by his finger and Neil had to grip at the bed sheets to keep from reaching out for Andrew.

“You can touch my hair and shoulders,” Andrew said quietly as he worked his finger inside of Neil until he could fit in a second one, causing Neil’s back to arch off the bed as he grabbed hold of Andrew’s shoulders. He honestly hadn’t been expecting to be able to touch at all the first time they did this when he’d pictured it in his head. He’d figure that’d be too much for Andrew. He didn’t think he could formulate a full sentence right now, or that Andrew would want to hear it if he could, so he simply gave Andrew’s shoulders a quick squeeze to let him know he knew that this was important, what Andrew was trusting him with right now, the love that Andrew was communicating by even considering having sex with him.

Andrew’s eyes locked on his before he leaned down to start placing kisses along Neil’s collarbone, and Neil was pretty sure he understood the message. His teeth found Neil’s skin just as his fingers found Neil’s prostate and Neil nearly shouted his name, hands migrating to Andrew’s hair.

Andrew’s free hand came up to cup Neil’s scarred cheek and guided him into a bruising kiss as he continued to finger Neil there, and slowly added a third finger, swallowing down Neil’s moans.

“I’m ready,” Neil insisted against Andrew’s mouth, earning a sharp nip to his bottom lip and a hard rub against his prostate before Andrew took his hand away from Neil’s face to grab the condom.

He sat up so he was straddling Neil’s legs to slide it on, looking down at him, face as blank as ever but eyes burning and pupils dilated. “Yes or no?” He asked one more time.

“Yes,” Neil said, a little breathless, nodding to make sure the message got across.

And then Andrew was slowly sliding into him, keeping his eyes on Neil’s face to assess his reaction, and Neil maintained the eye contact as he adjusted to the stretch of Andrew’s cock in him.  “Tell me when you’re ready for me to move,” Andrew instructed when his hips were flush against Neil’s ass. His jawline looked tense and his grip on Neil’s thighs would leave bruises, and Neil wasn’t sure if it was the strain of not moving or Andrew’s reaction to the sex itself, but Andrew leaned down for another kiss and Neil knew that everything was fine.

“You can start moving,” he told Andrew after a few seconds to get used to the feeling.

Andrew started with slow shallow thrusts, and it was nothing like the fingering they’d done before. His hands in Andrew’s hair tightened their grip until Andrew pinched his thigh in warning and he made himself loosen his hold.

And then Andrew picked up the speed of his thrusts and Neil stopped being able to really think as Andrew found his prostate again and started repeatedly hitting it.

“Andrew, Andrew, Andrew,” Neil cried out like a mantera while Andrew started trailing bites and kisses along his jaw and neck.

“I-” Neil cut off on a gasp, eyes fluttering closed briefly. “Andrew I’m gonna-” he didn’t have to finish the sentence, Andrew moved one of his hands to grasp Neil’s cock and started jerking him off in time to the thrusts until Neil shouted his name as he came over Andrew’s hand at the same time that he heard the telltale hitch in Andrew’s breath and his hips stuttered in their rhythm as he came inside of Neil.

They stayed like that for a moment, just watching each other. Neil took his hands away from Andrew to let him decide if he wanted to be touched or not right now as Andrew pulled out of him.

“You okay?” Neil asked softly.

Andrew nodded, pulling off the condom and tossing it into the trash can. “You?”

“I’m great.” He could swear he caught a hint of amusement in Andrew’s eyes at Neil using a word other than fine. “Should I move or stay here?” He asked after a moment.

Andrew considered him before laying down next to Neil. “You can stay. Just don’t touch.”

Neil nodded, easily accepting the boundary. “Alright.”

* * *

When Neil was nearly finished with his last year at college Andrew didn’t tell him he loved him, he asked him where they were going.

“I don’t like the cold,” Andrew told him, seemingly out of nowhere, while he was visiting from Boston.  

Neil glanced out the window at the perfectly sunny day. “Well, I don’t think it’s going to snow anytime soon,” he said, pointing out the obvious.

Andrew looked at him like he was an idiot, which was a lot like how he normally looked at Neil, and decided not to dignify that with a response. “The teams you’re looking at. Where are we going? I don’t want to go somewhere cold.”

He said it with such assurance that wherever Neil ended up after college they would be going together, despite the fact that Andrew already had a team that he’d barely been a part of, only having joined the Boston Rebels a few months ago.

“I’ve been considering the Hawks in Atlanta,” Neil told him. Andrew knew this of course, but he wanted Andrew to know that he wanted him to come with him. “It’s warm there. And not that far, so we could still come visit the Foxes.”

“I guess I could visit Bee while you do that,” Andrew decided.

“Is Boston too cold for you?” Neil asked, and Andrew narrowed his eyes at him because he knew that Neil knew already how Andrew felt about the snow front they’d gotten in Boston a few weeks ago.

“It snows too much. And you’d hate Boston. No one lives nearby,” Andrew finally said, and picked up the book he’d been reading, indicating he was done with this conversation.

Neil couldn’t help the small smile that formed on his face even as he turned back to the game he’d been watching on his laptop.

* * *

Andrew might not say when he loved things, but he was very clear about things he hated, and running was one of those things.

So, Neil wasn’t expecting it when Andrew sat up in bed after Neil’s alarm went off. He tended to ignore it, trying to get more sleep before their team practices.

“I’m making coffee before we do this,” he grumbled, moving one of their cats off of his lap and heading to the kitchen while Neil stared after him, a little dumbfounded.

And then he woke up enough for it to actually click in his head and he was walking into the kitchen, feeling more than just a little offended. “I can take care of myself.”

“The last time you told me something like that you went and got yourself kidnapped,” Andrew answered mildly, tapping his own face to indicate Neil’s scars as he stared down the coffee maker while the other cat rubbed up against his leg, hoping Andrew was going to give him food since they were in the kitchen.

“I handled myself fine yesterday,” Neil said indignantly. Because that had to be what this was about. Someone had tried to mug Neil on his morning run yesterday, and now Andrew suddenly wanted to go running together.

“This time,” he agreed.

Neil wanted to stay angry, but he noticed the undercurrent of something like concern in Andrew’s voice, not an emotion he was used to picking up from him.

So he sighed and nodded. “Fine. If you think you can keep up with me.”

Neil got changed out while Andrew drank his coffee and soon enough they were out the door of their apartment.

Andrew kept up with him easily enough for the first mile or so, but after that he started to sweat more and look like he was taking more effort to follow just close enough to keep Neil in his line of sight.

Andrew was fit enough to be on a professional exy team though, so he made it further than most people would even with Neil not going his full speed.

But finally when it was nearly time for Neil to turn around and start running back towards their apartment he looked back and saw Andrew sitting down on the curb.

“You okay?” He asked, jogging back over to him.

“You’re a fucking junkie,” Andrew answered. “And you didn’t bring water with you.”

“You know, this kind of reminds me of when Kevin made me try and score on you,” Neil mused, not bothering to keep the amusement out of his voice.

“I hate you,” Andrew definitely looked as bad as Neil had felt that day. His hair was sticking to his forehead with sweat and his face was all red. Although Andrew probably wasn’t stupid enough to actually try and keep up with Neil until his legs gave out like Neil had been with his arms.

“Does that mean that you’re not going to keep going on these runs with me? Because you’re holding me back right now,” Neil informed him and got a glare for it.

“Not all of us have been running our whole lives.”

Neil considered this for a moment and nodded. “You’re right. We’ll just have to start up a training regimen for you if you want to keep doing this so I can actually finish my runs without abandoning you on the side of the road.”

“Junkie,” Andrew muttered again.

* * *

It was no secret that Neil wasn’t the biggest fan of his looks. And it wasn’t hard to figure out why. Anyone who knew what his father looked like knew where he’d gotten his features and even people who didn’t found themselves looking at the scars on his face.

It wasn’t that no one ever brought up Neil’s past in front of him. Most were smart enough not to harass the son of a crime lord, and even the over zealous reporters who’d been brave enough to had eventually realized they weren’t getting answers out of him.

Every now and then though a rival on the court would try and use it to throw him off his game. It didn’t really work, and usually just resulted in a slightly too aggressive body check the first opportunity Neil saw to do so without getting carded.

It was a former Raven player who got under his skin about it, taunting him post game during the handshake line up. “How nice of you to give us a win on your birthday, Wesninski.” Neil had been on edge all day because of it being his birthday, his real one not the one on his papers, and it must have shown on his face when he heard the words. “Ohh, I think I made him angry,” the player said gleefully to his team mate who looked more nervous about the exchange than anything. “What are you gonna do about it, Wesninski? Kill me? It might actually make your father proud from hell.”

Andrew, who was standing a few people away down the line but had clearly been alerted to what was happening, approached before Neil could say something in return. “Are you looking to ask him yourself?” Andrew asked, gripping the Raven’s hand in a white knuckle grip while his other hand held a knife threateningly close to the former Raven player’s stomach.

“You can’t- you’re not allowed to have weapons on the court!”

Attention was definitely being drawn towards them, members of both teams suddenly moving forward to separate them before a fight could break out that would turn out much more bloody than a usual exy fight thanks to Andrew breaking the rules by having a weapon on the field.

“A murderer’s son and his pet psychopath, you two are a perfect team,” the player spat out as he and Andrew were being pulled away from each other.

Neil was still in the locker room, long after everyone else had cleared out, when Andrew was finally allowed to leave the coach’s office.

He saw Andrew approaching him in the reflection of the mirror he’d been staring into since the other members of the team had left.

He hated looking at his reflection. Hated seeing his father’s features and being reminded that he wasn’t just Neil Josten, but sometimes he felt like he couldn't look away. Couldn’t unsee Nathen Wesninski.

“You don’t look anything like him,” Andrew said, gripping Neil’s chin between his fingers and forcibly turning his attention away from his reflection.

Andrew wasn’t a particularly warm or comforting individual, and he certainly wasn’t much for lying, so Neil wasn’t sure what to make of the blatantly false claim.

“Andrew, you don’t have to lie to me abou-”

Andrew’s face didn’t change, but his eyes sparked with irritation before he covered it up. “If your eyes looked anything like his, do you think I would have let you anywhere near Kevin when we met? I would have killed you the second you got close to him.”

“I was wearing color contacts when we first met,” Neil reminded him, and Andrew gave him that familiar look that said he thought Neil was being particularly dense.

“I’m not talking about the color. Why would that matter? Plenty of people have blue eyes,” Andrew dismissed. “I’m talking about the important part. You don’t have the eyes of someone who murders people and enjoys it.”

“But I-”

“I won’t listen to your pity party. You’re Neil Josten. And that is what you look like.”

Andrew’s tone left no room for debate, so Neil made himself nod even if he couldn’t fully agree. “How much trouble are you in?” He asked to change the subject.

“I’m benched for the next two games,” Andrew shrugged like it was no big deal.

“Kevin’s going to be pissed that you’re out during our game against him.”

“Good. Maybe I’ll actually watch the game to see that.” Andrew let go of his face and moved to get to the showers behind him.

“Are you going to be cheering for me?” Neil asked, knowing that Andrew wasn’t going to bother answering that, but feeling the need to lighten the mood anyway.

Sure enough, Andrew just rolled his eyes. “Get showered. I’m not letting you in my car smelling like that.”

* * *

So maybe it was a bit odd to some people, if anyone ever actually bothered to ask about it, that they didn’t say they loved each other.

But really, they didn’t need to.

If anyone had any doubts about them, Andrew cleared it up at Renee and Allison’s wedding.

“So, when are you and Neil planning to tie the knot?” Nicky teased at the reception party, grinning at them.

“We’re not,” Andrew answered, sipping at his whisky glass.

“Don’t you guys want to make it official though?” Dan asked.

“I’ve spent this long with him. I don’t need a piece of paper to prove that I’m sticking around.”

“Awww, Andrew that’s almost sweet,” Nicky had the sense to hug Neil instead of Andrew though. “But what about Neil here. Neil, don’t you want to get married?”

“It doesn’t really matter to me. I definitely don’t want all of this,” he gestured around him as best he could with Nicky trapping him in his arms. “But I know Andrew and I are going to last, so what’s the point?”

“Even if we wanted to separate, we have to stay together for the cats,” Andrew agreed mildly, getting a laugh out of Neil.

“The cats that you claim to hate?”

“I do. But you’d kill them somehow if I ever left you alone for too long.”

So they didn’t say they loved each other, but they knew, and they knew that they were in this together for as long as they had with each other. And really, that was what mattered most. People said they loved each other all the time and lied about it. Neil knew Andrew loved him because of Andrew’s actions, and that was much more reliable than just some flimsy words.


End file.
